Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A to Z of Adventure! K is for the Known World

Long before the game world of the D&D BECMI sets was called "Mystara", it was simply "The Known World" of the D&D B/X sets.

I posted some history here, but for me the best and first Known World module was X1 Isle of Dread. I am going to wait though and detail that one on X day.

Back in the early days of the 80s we didn't have a developed campaign world like Greyhawk if you played B/X D&D. That is until the Expert set came out and teased us with the maps of the Known World. We took these little tidbits of the world and we built our own. That is one of the reasons why my Glantri is a Theological Oligarchy but the official one is a Magecracy of Principalities.

This was my home for much of the early 80s. Building worlds, trying to fit square pegs into round holes. Buffing out the rough spots.

The world that grew out my experiments in the Known World was later something that the Internet had already named; Mystoerth. Now my kids are exploring this world and there are still new things to be found. In some ways I would have liked to have created a world whole cloth then I'd have something to publish today. But in truth I rather like my hodge-podge mix of various pieces of other worlds. I can relate to the Mystara folk and the Greyhawk folk. If need a new area figure out, I grab something from my shelf.

That is the best thing about these adventures. There are always more and more places to have them.

The Hungarian... uh, alternative of D&D came with a world that was very much designed in detail, and the background of your character depended on what country you were from. When I first played D&D, I was very confused by all the nebulous settings... :D